Quentin Tarantino is switching gears from the Old West to the West Coast for his next film, but the subject matter is as violent as ever.

For the first time, the acclaimed director is taking on a story based on true events: the Manson Family murders of 1969.

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The Hollywood Reporter and Variety each cite sources saying Tarantino is taking on the grisly story for his follow-up to "The Hateful Eight." The former site says actor Brad Pitt -- who was the lead in Tarantino's fictionalized World War II epic-meets-spaghetti western "Inglorious Basterds" -- and Jennifer Lawrence have been approached to star.

The focus of the film is still unknown as Tarantino works on the script, with the plan set to shoot sometime in 2018.

Tarantino -- among Hollywood's more unconventional directors, but one with an unmistakable style -- is particular and eclectic in his choice of projects. Bursting onto the scene in the '90s with the violent heist flick "Reservoir Dogs" and day-in-the-life crime tale "Pulp Fiction," his two most recent films reached into America's past with the 1800s-set "Django Unchained" and "Hateful Eight."

Jumping forward a century, the story of the Manson Family ranks as one of the 20th century's most infamous crimes.

On Aug. 8, 1969, followers of cult leader Charles Manson killed five people at director Roman Polanski's home in California, including Polanski's pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. Members of the group were accused in murders before and after those killings, as well. Captured in October of that year, Manson and some of his followers were sentenced to life in prison.